Fees not hiked for past 10 years, says Pondicherry Univ

The Pondicherry University has said that steps are being taken to resolve the fee issue and address the ongoing strike by some students.

PUDUCHERRY: The Pondicherry University has said that steps are being taken to resolve the fee issue and address the ongoing strike by some students.

In a statement, the university said it had constituted a Fee Revision Committee under the Charmanship of Chandrasekhara Rao, Dean for School of Management. MS Pandian, Dean for School of Physical, Chemical and Applied Sciences; Mohanan Bhaskaran Pillai, Dean for School of Law; Chitra Sivasubramanian, professor and Head of Management Studies; and Amaresh Samantaraya, Finance Office in-charge, are members of the committee. Parichay Yadav and Kuriakose represent the Student Council in the committee.

The second meeting of the committee was held on February 17 this year. The panel put forth a proposal to waive 20 per cent fees for students from economically weaker section. Though the Student Council welcomed the waiver for the underprivileged and economically weaker section in every class, the students refused to withdraw the strike until the management announced a 100 per cent rollback of the fee hike. The committee told the students that the university provides three different scholarships -- merit, merit-cum-means scholarship and full fee waiver for differently abled students admitted to all programmes of study -- and there had been no hike in fees for almost 10 years.

Last year, the university increased the fee structure to meet out growing expenditure and it was notified in the prospectus. The Students Council then demanded a reduction in fee hike and protested. During a meeting with the Students Council, the university administration in April 2019, the administration agreed to rollback the fee hike by 25 per cent in certain courses.

The reduced fees was notified and newly admitted students paid the reduced fee for both semesters, during July and December 2019. No protest or representation was made in this regard during the last 10 months. Strangely, the Students Council of 2019-20 has taken up the fee issue in February 2020, demanding 100 per cent rollback to the fee hike.

Although the Students Council was told that there is an overall rise in overhead cost due to increasing cost of materials, electricity, fuel, e-resources and software subscriptions for library and computer labs necessitating a fee hike, the council insists on a 100 per cent rollback.

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